Cave 24

Cave 24. Ketef Hinnom. English Text:, This is the most remarkable cave at this site, as it contains some of the most important archaeological finds in Jerusalem., The plan of room on the right is rectangular, measuring 2.0 x 3.7 meters. Three raised burial benches are hewn into its walls. One of them is especially wide, and features a row of six headrests. A bone repository containing a particularly rich assemblage of finds was hewn under the bench. The assemblage consisted of more than 1,000 items, among them 263 intact pottery vessels and artifacts made of a variety of materials : metals, including silver and gold jewelry, rare glass vessels, and bone and ivory objects. Some of these items were rare and prestigious, attesting to the high social status of the deceased., One particularly significant item is a silver coin that originated on the island of Kos. It is dated, apparently to the sixth century BCE, the era when coins first began to be minted. The objects are dated to three periods: the late First Temple period (the seventh and early sixth centuries BCE), the time of Babylonian rule and the time of the Return to Zion (the sixth and fifth centuries BCE), and the Second Temple period (the first century BCE).